Tufton Oceanic Assets Limited splashed out close to $55m on vessels acquisitions in the last few days of 2021, regulatory filings show.
The UK shipping fund said it had agreed to acquire a product tanker for $30.9m and a handysize bulker for $23.6m, but gave few details as to the identity of the ships.
Tufton said both vessels came with fixed rate time charters of between 12 and 24 months for the tanker and 18 to 24 months for the bulker.
The London-listed company said the charter attached to the tanker was producing a net yield of over 8% despite a relatively weak tanker market.
"The investment manager believes that positive drivers for both demand recovery and very low supply growth will significantly increase charter rates and values in the medium term," it added.
Tufton said the charter attached to the bulker was producing a net yield over 15%.
The product tanker is said to have been acquired at approximately 85% of depreciated replacement cost (DRC), while the bulker was acquired at below DRC.
Tufton said both vessels are "already in the top quartile of fuel efficiency in their market segments" but it added that they will be evaluated for further improvement, including the retrofit of energy saving devices (ESDs).
The product tanker is said to already incorporate some ESDs and other design features which have a similar or better impact on efficiency.
Tufton said the acquisitions, together with announced divestments, demonstrate the company's "commitment to ESG and capital reallocation".
"The latter is increasingly relevant given absolute and relative movements across and within the main shipping markets since the third quarter of 2020," it added.
Tufton recently took advantage of the strong container ship market to offload a feedership at a significant profit.
It sold the 1,700-teu Swordfish (built 2008) to an unnamed buyer for $19m. The vessel was acquired in January 2018 for $10.25m as one of the company's first two investments.
Separately, TradeWinds recently reported that Tufton was being linked to a $90m deal for three MR tankers — the 50,000-dwt sisterships Dong-A Krios, Dong-A Themis and Dong-A Triton (all built 2015).
